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I put down a Daiwa Millionaire CT SV. I saw one of the Japanese sites had a Christmas sale for 50% off so I conned the wife into it

Dang you guys have skim already? It's all open down here. Might get some skim with the snow storm we're supposed to get early next week. Good luck and hope you get your 7lb greenie.

Should have this guy either Monday or Tuesday. It will be going on a custom 6' L 4-8 fiberglass blank from Ameriglass. I haven't decided which color scheme I'm going to go with on the rod, but so far I'm leaning towards that vintage raw fiberglass look with dark red thread for the guides and a burled maple reel seat with stainless accents and cork grip. I feel ya brother! I'm the kind of guy that takes a reel on the crapper and plays with it instead of my cell phone lol

That's a nice laker. I was out on Lake Huron this past Saturday and limited out on eater sized lakers fishing deep down husky jerks and little Cleos. I know some will tar and feather me saying this, but I like lake trout more than salmon. It's nothing short of amazing, especially smoked.

Twitch it. Give it a similar action to what a dying baitfish would have. They work best in slower pools where you can work them in such a manner.

I use Cal's purple in my steelhead reels along with TSI 301 in the bearings and level wind. Keeps them from getting crunchy in our Michigan winters.

I feel most of those people chasing that magic 1/64 point are doing it for the novelty value, not so much practicality. I can't think of a time where I used anything that light outside of jigging perch through a hole in the ice. Most of the baits I throw weigh anywhere from 1/16-3/16, mostly for trout and panfish. With bass, it's very rare I'm throwing below 1/4 and most any modern baitcast or spinning reel will do that effortlessly. Even the budget stuff. BFS for bass does have that novelty factor as well. I feel it's a better suited platform for trout and panfish than bass.

It's just another means to an end, albeit expensive in some respects. Used BFS reels can be an amazing value, for instance the 2012 model Aldebaran BFS and 2016 model Alphas Air. Both can be had used for under $150. Furthermore, some reels such as the Fuego CT and Revo X can be made finesse capable by swapping the spool for a micro cast spool but that can get expensive once you factor in the cost of the spool and the reel. While those do work for many, they are still heavy (compared to true BFS reels) 100 sized baitcasters. At that point, you may as well get one of the used reels mentioned a few sentences back. The main reasons why I like BFS over a spinning reel. First is line control. This makes them very accurate like their bigger siblings. Running light braid on a BFS reel makes them much less prone to wind knots than a spinning reel. Second is weight. Most BFS reels weigh under 6 ounces, even lighter than most 500 and 1000 size spinning reels save for the Daiwa Luvias. The Luvias is a $350 reel, more expensive than any BFS reel except for the Calcutta Conquest BFS. Unfortunately, there are no budget oriented BFS reels from the Big 3 (Shimano, Daiwa, Abu) at this time, and most looking to spend under $100 will be stuck looking at Chinese reels such as the KastKing Zephyr, Tsurinoya Spirit Fox, and Fishband GH100. Those reels aren't bad to get one's feet wet, but they don't have the advanced braking systems of JDM BFS reels. Their brakes are more like the larger 100 size reels.

They're a great place to buy from. I got a Luvias LT 2000S-XH a few months back and got it in 4 days. The price was far cheaper than anybody else.

I use it for leader material on some of my rigs, others I use mono. Most of my trout fishing is done with a fluorocarbon leader, they can be very line shy and it does help. For bass, I like mono because of the abrasion resistance. As a for instance, there's a lot of sharp rocky cover in Lake Huron and they hold a lot of pig smallies. Big Game is an excellent leader in that sort of setting.

I used to use that stuff on my ultralights many years ago, never had a problem with it. I liked to use Stren Original on my bigger bass and walleye rigs back then because it was more abrasion resistant.

The Sufix is pretty good line too. All of the lines mentioned here are good, but we all have which one we prefer. I completely understand working within a budget. Gotta get the most for your money.

Stick with the Maxima, it's still the best mono out there. I've been through many of the flavor of the day lines posted in this thread and keep going back to the Maxima. I use it for everything from trout and panfish to king salmon.

A favorite steelhead spot of mine not far from me. Taken last winter when I was out float fishing.

Jordan River, oh how I love thee. What a tough river to fish, but a brookie shore lunch makes it worth it. Water so clear it almost looks fake.

It's steelhead season for me. The warm water fishermen are boarding up the windows for the winter, and I'm putting on my waders. Hardware bite is on now, but once the water dips below 40 it'll be time to float spawn. There's still a lot of good fishing to be had for months to come.

Something I've learned using no mono backing, secure the line with a uni knot to the spool. Give the line a good 5 or 6 wraps around the spool, tie your knot, and cinch it down good. It won't slip. I learned this watching Japanese fishermen on YouTube.

You can remove some of the slop by adding a shim between the driveshaft collar and driveshaft gear. The shim will be the same ID as the driveshaft bearing. You will want to get a few different thicknesses to experiment and find which one works best.

Break it down, clean it, and lubricate it properly and that should help out a good amount.

I like to buy from FishUSA, they pack their rods very well and often have some very nice deals. A good all arounder is the Lamiglas X11 Ultralight, available in 6', 6'6", and 7'. They run something like $60. If you want the ultimate ultralight, you may need to have somebody build a rod for you. A friend of mine uses a Lamiglas Honey 6'6" 3wt set up for a spinning reel and it makes for a wonderful ultralight, probably one of the best I've handled. He can throw tiny baits on that thing and it has more than enough backbone to handle brown trout in the 20" range.

I know some guys that fish in boot foots, but they tend to wear the waders they use for duck hunting. Nothing wrong with that, could get expensive having to buy 2 sets of waders.

With waders, you definitely get what you pay for. I'm running 6 seasons on a pair of Simms Freestones as well as Freestone boots without any leaks. The Simms are comfy and lightweight and easy to hike in. I pretty much live in them when I'm in the back woods of Michigan hitting streams. Hiking boots can be worn as wading boots, but the soles aren't designed to grip in water and depending on the river environment, this can be a safety concern. With true wading boots, rubber soles are much better to hike in than felt. Felt is only good for fishing rivers with a lot of large rocks, but they are no good for hiking to your destination. They can become muddy which greatly increases your chances of slipping, plus the felt wears out much faster walking over terrain. Try waders on in a store before you purchase if you can. Everybody sizes their waders differently and a size from one manufacturer will fit differently from the next. Breathable waders are the way to go. They're cool to wade in the summer, and if you find yourself fishing in the cold, you can layer under them. I fish in my waders year round. Lastly, and I can't stress this enough, get a wading staff or even a hiking stick so you can probe the river bottom. Clear water can be deceptively deep, and you can find yourself taking a drink just steps away from where you are standing. Just because you can wade doesn't mean you should. Try and wade only as a last resort, either to cast to a spot you can't hit from the bank or to go around obstacles.

I have no idea but I think that's a JDM reel seeing as the 5500CS and 6500CS in the same color are for the Japanese market. I personally have never seen a 4500CS in your color, so it's probably a rare piece. You might want to shoot off an email to Svangsta, they will know for sure. My orange reel was made in 2015 for the Swedish market only. They also made one in hot pink in similar numbers.